Just to outline a few thoughts I (and others, MinxFox you know some of whom I am speaking of) have regarding spalding of any type:
1. The number of pure green birds in this country is INCREDIBLY small and every single one of them comes from a very small population.
Agreed
2. It is entirely likely that one day we will NEVER be able to import pure green birds into the country.
Never thought about that, but yes I am sure one day we won't be able to. Just look at Australia and how little they can get into their continent. I think all of their green peafowl are high % spaldings. Very big high % spaldings at that.
3. Given 1. and 2. it is entirely likely the successive generations of green birds in this country will begin to experience significant negative inbreeding probabilities.
I think negative inbreeding is already happening to some degree. We don't have many bloodlines...The only exceptional lines in the US that I am aware of are Rodney Michael and Wolfgang. Read Mountain Peafowl got better luck with his RM green peafowl when he bought a Wolfgang male from Rocking BAB. I think he is getting better results crossing the two lines. If it is true that some or all of Wolfgang's birds are inbreed, then our problem is even worse.
4. Neither blue or green birds are native to this country and thus there is no obligation to maintain purity for any biologic purpose within our country.
True...
5. NO foreign country is EVER going to import blue or green birds back into those countries from the U.S. for re-population.
Yeah definitely true. It would cost way more to get them from the US when they have Europe or Thailand right there. Plus our birds don't have enough genetic diversity and are probably so used to captive bred lives they might not do so well.
6. Green birds are incredibly flighty and do not breed well laying few eggs.
If you can't get their requirements down, they might not give you anything. A nearby breeder had a pair of greens and never got chicks from them. The male died recently of old age.
7. Human nature drives man to see what we can create biologically. We have done it for thousands of years. If you are one of those people that think we should in any situation maintain biologic purity you should immediately go and kill any dog or cat you currently own and most any bird you own.
I don't know what I think...I mainly just want to keep green peafowl pure because I like the way they look naturally. I have seen photos of mixed greens where they have been mixed with a few of the subspecies. They were pretty, but they didn't have that bright blue on their wing. I think once you do all of that mixing you lose some of the vibrance. Sure you get more cold tolerance, etc, but my favorite look is the look of a wild green peafowl. I understand why people want to breed spaldings and it is fun and challenging for them to see what kind of offspring they get since the spalding look varies so much. I even have several low % spaldings by accident. Probably most of my birds have a bit of green blood in them. I am sure that Damsel and Peep have some. They both have dark legs. I didn't notice Damsel's dark legs until later and then realized that it might mean she is a spalding and she probably is. So basically I want to keep green peafowl pure because I like the way they look as pure birds. I don't have much of a desire to do a lot of mixing up. The only thing I want is to breed some good pied birds, have whites, India Blues, blackshoulders, and have green peafowl and maybe eventually all three subspecies. Those are the only varieties I want but I want to give them all big planted aviaries and lots of hotwire outside. I do see how Spaldings could be helpful though...It is better to be mixed then to be inbreed. I will use a Native American clan as an example and I can because I am Native American haha...They want to keep themselves pure so they inbreed with each other. This has caused many to be mentally retarted. They drool all over themselves and can't really talk. When it comes down to it I would rather see green peafowl saved by mixing if inbreeding was starting to cause such issues.
8. Given 1. thru 6. it would seem prudent that anyone truly interested in maintaining a healthy line of green type birds should strive to lessen the impact of those problems.
Importing is expensive and the best solution is to get many people to chip in to help import green peafowl. I had an idea that the UPA could organize an importation of some green peafowl, but I don't think that will happen. My idea was that we try and get lots of people to help fund importing the birds. We would get several unrelated pairs and each pair would go to a different peafowl breeder - specifically a breeder who already has personal experience with caring for green peafowl so thus will be less likely to lose the birds. Then hopefully the pairs will have offspring and the offspring will be sent to other breeders who helped fund the importation. People who didn't help but want a green from this will have to wait until everyone who helped fund the importation get at least one green peafowl if they want one. I have saved up for a pair of nice green peafowl in the US, but if someone was going to do something like this I would put that money towards the import. There are so many risks and costs with importing so it is tough to convince people to import. You could have a bird die in quarantine, etc.
9. Given 8. and 7. if you are one of those people that are well off enough to import green birds, you are probably deriving income from those birds thus it behooves you to both save a green looking line and to use that line to create other cool looking birds.
Or help fund a group importation...
10. There will NEVER be registry or any other means to know if a bird is truly green in the US given 1. thru 9. except absolute trust in the person you are buying from unless there are DNA testing improvements.
I am hoping for DNA improvements but I have some people I definitely trust for greens...
11. Any other conversations about the issue are mostly a waste of time and energy.
Oops...Oh well I have nothing else to do anyways... Just wanted to also say though that many people own tigers in the US. I think one statistic said that there are more backyard tigers in the US then there are tigers in the wild. You hear about them getting out and the police shoot them or they get put down, etc and you might wonder why they do that to an endangered cat. Wellll...The pet tigers are normally mixes of different tiger subspecies like Siberian mixed with Bengal. Thus, they cannot use these for conservation so they can't be sent to zoos for conservation breeding projects. They normally end up being fixed and put into a rescue place for big cats, like the amazing Big Cat Rescue. Anyways, I guess this could be compared to green peafowl. Even the 'pure' ones in the US might just be mixed up subspecies so while they look pretty to me, they might still be worthless as far as conservation.
